Ladles



Sept. 28, 1965 R. B. CRONHEIM LADLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 20, 1964 FIG.2

INVENTOR. RICHARD B. CRONHEIM W 7T ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Sept. 28, 1965 R. B. CRONHEIM LADLES Filed Jan. 20, 1964 RICHARD B. CRONHEIM 1 w 5.71/4; 5 m F Patented Sept. 28, 1965 dice 3,208,144 LADLES Richard B. Cronheim, 411 N. 7th St, St. Louis, Mo. Fiied Jan. 20, 1964, Ser. No. 338,859 3 Claims. (Cl. 3tl324) This invention relates in general to certain new and useful improvements in culinary implements, and more particularly, to a ladle for handling hot liquids, such as soups, gravies, and the like.

A conventional type of culinary ladle which has been in use for many years, consists of a bowl-like receptacle rigidly mounted at one end of a long slender shank having a hand-grip portion at its other end. This type of device is somewhat awkward for the average housewife to use in transferring hot liquids such as soups, gravies, chili, or other hot food prepartions into a plate or serving dish, because it is necessary to dispose the bowl-like receptacle over the plate or serving dish into which the hot food is being transferred, and then swing the handle in a rather long are to tilt the receptacle in such a manner as to discharge the contents thereof. As every housewife knows, from her own experience, spillage accidents probably occur more frequently during the use of ladies, than with any other type of culinary implement or device.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide a ladle in which the liquid carrying receptacle can be tilted and controlled while maintaining the shank and hand-grip in substantially vertical position.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a ladle of the type stated which is simple and economical in construction.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a ladle of the type stated which is mechanically durable and includes a minimum number of moving parts.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a ladle of the type stated which can be readily cleaned and maintained in a sanitary condition.

With the above and other objects in view, my invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement, and combination of parts presently described and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a ladle constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevational View of the ladle;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are fragmentary sectional views taken along lines 44 and 5-5 respectively of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 66 of PEG. 2; and

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the ladle showing the receptacle thereof in tilted position.

Referring now in more detail and by reference characters to the drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention, A designates a ladle comprising an elongated bar-shaped shank 1, formed preferably of a stainless steel or other suitable rigid material and being provided at its lower end with a journal-forming aperture 2. At its upper end, the shank is rigidly set into the lower end of a handgrip 3 formed preferably of a synthetic material such as a melamine resin, a ureaformaldehyde resin, or the like. The hand-grip 3 is molded or otherwise formed with an interior cylindrical socket 4 at its upper end, and a downwardly opening elongated axial chamber 5' at its lower end, the socket 4 and chamber 5 being connected by a diametrally reduced short axial bore 6, which extends between the top wall 7 of the chamber 5, and the bottom wall 8 of the socket 4. The chamber 5 is of substantially rectangular cross-sectional shape, having parallel front and rear walls 9, 10, and side walls 11, 12 which diverge outwardly and downwardly, so that the chamber 5 is substantially larger in transverse dimension at the bottom than at the top, all as best seen in FIG. 4, and for purposes presently more fully appearing.

Provided for rockable or tilting disposition at the lower end of the shank 1 is a hemispherical O-shaped receptacle 13, formed preferably of stainless steel and having a substantially circular upper rim-forming margin 14, provided midway of one side with an outwardly deformed spout l5. Rigidly secured to the rear outer face of the receptacle 13, preferably by means of a rivet 16, is a narrow arcuate plate 17 rigidly provided adjacent its upper end with a rearwardly extending short pintle-pin 18, which extends concentrically through a washer 19 and is operatively journaled in the aperture 2 of the shank 1, being retentively peened over at its rearwardly projecting end, as at 20, thereby being securely and rotatably attached at the lower end of the shank 1. Formed integrally with the plate 17 and extending outwardly therefrom in radial relation to the pintle-pin 18 is a link-arm 21, having an aperture 22 for rotatably receiving the forwardly bent terminal-end 23 which is integrally formed on the lower end of a vertically extending actuator-rod 24, which extends obliquely upwardly along the rear face of the shank 1, and, at its upper end, is provided with a small offset bend 25 and a push-rod portion 26. At its upper end, the push-rod portion 26 extends into the downwardly opening hollow interior of a molded push button 27, the lower end of which is provided with an annular rim or flange 28, operatively secured within a milled-out recess 29, formed in a retainer ring 30, the latter being seated snugly around an upwardly projecting annular collar 31 formed annularly on the upper end of the handgrip 3 in concentric relation to the socket 4.

Preferably, the retainer ring 30 is secured in place by means of an epoxy or other similar type of permanent adhesive. Within the socket 4, the upper end of the pushrod portion 26 is provided with a washer 32 held in place by a pin 33 inserted diametrally through the push-rod portion 26. On its underface, the washer 32 bears abuttingly against the upper end of a compression spring 34, which in turn is seated abuttingly at its lower end upon the bottomwall 8 of the socket 4. As can be seen by reference to FIG. 4, the compression spring 34 urges the entire actuator rod 24 upwardly and the length of the push-rod portion 26 which projects upwardly above the washer 32 is such that the upper end thereof will bear rockably and abuttingly against the underface of the push button 27, thereby maintaining the push-rod in permanent contact with the push button 27, and also maintaining the push button 27 in upwardly biased position against the retainer ring 36, and moreover, the actuator rod 24 is of such length that, when in upwardly biased position, the terminal-end 23 thereof will hold the receptacle 13 in upright or liquid-retaining position, with the plane of the rim-forming margin 14 substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shank 1.

It should also be noted in this connection that the compression spring 34 should be of sufiicient strength to hold the various connected parts of the ladle A in this position firmly and securely, even when the receptacle 13 is filled with a liquid food product.

In use, the ladle A may be dipped into a kettle of hot soup, for example, and the receptacle 13 filled in the usual and conventional manner. The ladle A may then be lifted out and transported over the plate or serving dish into which the contents of the receptacle 13 are to be discharged. The user then merely presses the push button 27 downwardly with the thumb of the hand which is holding the ladle A, thereby shifting the actuator rod 24 downwardly and rocking the link-arm 21 in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 5. This movement will, of course, cause the ladle to tilt from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 7, and the contents of the receptacle 13 will be discharged. In this connection, it should be noted that the divergent from the side wall 11 of the chamber affords sufficient clearance, so that the actuator rod 24 is free to swing laterally outwardly as it is shifted downwardly, and the upper end of the push-rod portion 26 which bears against the under side of the push button 27, will also articulate slightly to allow for such movement. As soon as the contents has been discharged, the push button 27 may be released and the compression spring 34 will shift the actuator rod 24 upwardly, returning the receptacle 13 to non-tilted position, that is to say the position shown in FIG. 2.

It should be understood that changes and modifications in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the ladle may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A culinary ladle comprising an elongated shank, a substantially tubular hand-grip rigidly mounted on the upper end of the shank said hand-grip being provided with a downwardly opening lengthwise extending relatively wide internal chamber, said hand-grip also having an upwardly opening socket in its upper end, said socket and chamber being connected internally of the hand-grip by a short diametr'ally reduced bore, a push button shiftably mounted in and projecting upwardly from the socket and having a downwardly opening hollow interior which opens into the socket, a receptacle operatively mounted on the lower end of the shank for rocking movement about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shank, an actuator rod extending lengthwise along the shank and projecting loosely through the chamber and diametral ly reduced bore of the hand-grip so as to be both axially and laterally shiftable within said chamber and bore, said actuator rod extending also into the socket and into the hollow interior of the push button, said actuator rod being in endwise rockable abutment against the push button, spring means in the socket and disposed encirclingly around the actuator rod for biasing the actuator rod upwardly, and an eccentric element rigidly connected to the receptacle, the lower end of the actuator rod being journraled to said eccentric element in eccentric relation to the axis about which the receptacle rocks, so that when the push button is pushed downwardly, the receptacle will be rotated on said axis and tilted in relation to the shank in such a manner as to discharge the contents thereof while the shank and handle are held in substantially vertical position, said actuator rod thereby shifting laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of the chamber.

2. A culinary ladle comprising an elongated shank, a hand-grip rigidly mounted on the upper end of the shank, said hand-grip being provided with a downwardly opening lengthwise extending internal chamber, said hand-grip also having an upwardly opening socket in its upper end, said socket and chamber being in communication with one another, a push button shiftably mounted in and projecting upwardly from the socket, said push button having a downwardly presented abutment surface, a receptacle operative-1y mounted on the lower end of the shank for rocking movement about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the shank, an actuator rod extending lengthwise along the shank and projecting loosely through the chamber of the hand-grip, said actuator rod extending also into the socket and bearing rockably against the downwardly presented abutment surface of the push button, spring means in the socket, said spring means being operatively connected to said actuator rod for biasing the actuator rod upwardly, and an eccentric element rigidly connected to the receptacle, said actuator rod being journaled to the eccentric element in eccentric relation to the axis about which the receptacle rocks, so that when the push button is pushed downwardly, the receptacle will be rotated on said axis and tilted in relation to the shank in such a manner as to discharge the contents thereof while the shank and handle are held in substantially vertical position, said actuator rod thereby shifting laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of said chamber in the course of its receptacle-actuating movement.

3. A culinary ladle according to claim 2 in which the means for connecting the actuator rod to the receptacle is a radial link-arm.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 296,051 4/84 Peters 30-324 843,372 2/07 Smith 30-324 WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CULINARY LADLE COMPRISING AN ELONGATED SHANK, A SUBSTANTIALLY TUBULAR HAND-GRIP RIGIDLY MOUNTED ON THE UPPER END OF THE SHANK SAID HAND-GRIP BEING PROVIDED WITH A DOWNWARDLY OPENING LENGTHWISE EXTENDING RELATIVELY WIDE INTERNAL CHAMBER, SAID HAND-GRIP ALSO HAVING AN UPWARDLY OPENING SOCKET IN ITS UPPER END, SAID SOCKET AND CHAMBER BEING CONNECTED INTERNALLY OF THE HAND-GRIP BY A SHORT DIAMETRALLY REDUCED BORE, A PUSH BOTTON SHIFTABLY MOUNTED IN AND PROJECTING UPWARDLY FROM THE SOCKET AND HAVING A DOWNWARDLY OPENING HOLLOW INTERIOR WHICH OPENS INTO THE SOCKET, A RECEPTACLE OPERATIVELY MOUNTED ON THE LOWER END OF THE SHANK FOR ROCKING MOVEMENT ABOUT AN AXIS PERPENDICULAR TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE SHANK, AN ACTUATOR ROD EXTENDING LENGTHWISE ALONG THE SHANK AND PROJECTING LOOSELY THROUGH THE CHAMBER AND DIAMETRALLY REDUCED BORE OF THE HAND-GRIP SO AS TO BE BOTH AXIALLY AND LATERALLY SHIFTABLE WITHIN SAID CHAMBER AND BORE, SAID ACTUATOR ROD EXTENDING ALSO INTO THE SOCKET AND INTO THE HOLLOW INTERIOR OF THE PUSH BUTTON, SAID ACTUATOR ROD BEING IN ENDWISE ROCKABLE ABUTMENT AGAINST THE PUSH BUTTON, SPRING MEANS IN THE SOCKET AND DISPOSED ENCIRCLINGLY AROUND THE ACTUATOR ROD FOR BIASING THE ACTUATOR ROD UPWARDLY, AND AN ECCENTRIC ELEMENT RIGIDLY CONNECTED TO THE RECEPTACLE, THE LOWER END OF THE ACTUATOR ROD BEING JOURNALED TO SAID ECCENTRIC ELEMENT IN ECCENTRIC RELATION TO THE AXIS ABOUT WHICH THE RECEPTACLE ROCKS, SO THAT WHEN THE PUSH BUTTON IS PUSHED DOWNWARDLY, THE RECEPTACLE WILL BE ROTATED ON SAID AXIS AND TILTED IN RELATION TO THE SHANK IN SUCH A MANNER AS TO DISCHARGE THE CONTENTS THEREOF WHILE THE SHANK AND HANDLE ARE HELD IN SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL POSITION, SAID ACTUATOR ROD THEREBY SHIFTING LATERALLY WITH RESPECT TO THE LONGITUDIANL AXIS OF THE CHAMBER. 